- Tin House
I was devastated when Claudia Rankine didn’t win the 2014 National Book Award for poetry. No shade to the writer who did win, Louise Gluck, who wrote a lyrical, very good, very traditional book of poems. But given our current political climate, it made little to no sense that Citizen, Claudia Rankine’s powerful meditation on race, violence, and society, not be recognized. Now she’s gotten her due, in two categories, no less, on the National Book Critics Circle’s list of finalists.
Also on the list? Lacy M. Johnson, whose memoir The Other Side came out on Portland’s Tin House in 2014, and recounts her experience of surviving an abusive relationship with a man who tried to kill her. It’s a terrifying book, all the more so for its ability to delve into ideas of memory and trauma, and for what it says more broadly about relationships between men and women.
Johnson gave a powerful interview at Tin House here.
You can see the full list of finalists here.